This was my first trip to Kona- The race went much like I expected. Great day, but tough (of course)

RACE WEEK IN KONA: RACE DAY

PRERACE:

I did not need my alarm clocks. I got up at 3:30 after waking up every couple of hours. I ate my 2 pastrami sandwiches and banana. We got down to the transition area right around 5:00. Anne stayed with me until body marking, then went around the other side to meet me coming out. We got nice temporary tattoo numbers on our arms, but no ages on our legs. I told the guy next to me in line that I found that odd. He said: “Do they usually do that? This is just my 3rd triathlon.”

I did the normal prerace stuff. Pumped up the tires. Put the race food with the bike. Filled the bottles. Went to the bathroom. Dropped off my morning clothes bag.

There was the national anthem and skydivers. The pros went off at 6:25 and 6:40.

SWIM:

I got in line to enter the water. It took quite a while for 1700 men to file through the chute. I stood on the beach far left of the entry point waiting for the fast guys to position themselves in the water and deciding what position & line I would take to keep from getting beat up. I talked to a guy there who was doing the same thing. Turned out he was there as a Legacy also. I started well behind the start line & far to the left. I was surprised that I was still in quite a large crowd swimming to the first turn. I moved over to the right edge of the course so I could keep an eye on the other swimmers (I breathe on the left). I got to do a little drafting, but mostly swam in clear water. The age group women left 15 minutes after us. I estimated my swim would be 1:30. If the fast women swam 1:00, I figured they would catch me right after the half way point. They did. The ones that came by alone or in pairs were fine, but I was overtaken by several “pods” of swimmers. There was a lead woman followed by 10 or 12 drafting her in a V pattern. Some of these would engulf me. There was a frenzy of splashing & so many bubbles churned up in the water that I could not see the swimmers as they went around me. I got smacked around a little & it was kind of nerve-racking. I hit the beach & gently tried to stand. No issues; my legs responded well. I headed into T1.

T1:

There were many more guys in the tent than I expected. I assumed everyone would be gone. I took my time & got ready for the bike. I was not in a hurry & it turned out we had to walk all the way around the perimeter of the pier to get the bike. T1 was 11:14.

BIKE:

I took off on the bike feeling pretty good. I always do. I like the bike leg. I looked for Annie, but did not see her. The first 10 miles or so were through town. Lots of spectators, lots of bikes, mediocre pavement. I rode safe & it was uneventful. Then we hit the Queen K…. I was prepared for this to be hard. But at 9:00 in the morning, it was still relatively cool and we had a bit of a tail wind. At about 35 miles, I saw the pros coming back at me heading to town. I got down on my areo-bars and rode the rolling hills mostly in the big chain-ring. I worked my average up over 19 mph. I kept to my nutrition and ate a half pastrami sandwich every 15 miles. I knew there was a significant climb into Hawi & was ready for it. When we turned off the Queen K & on to 170 to Hawi, the wind changed direction. Head wind but not too bad. When I got about 10 miles out of Hawi, the road turned up, the wind picked up and it started raining. The wind made the rain sting on my face & eyes, but at least it cooled off the pavement which was starting to heat up. I made the turn-around at 60 mile & got my food bag. I had 3 Gatorade bottles with protein powder in them, a coke & 4 more sandwich halves all packed in ice. The coke was GREAT! I headed back downhill out of Hawi. The rain had stopped & the road was drying out. I worked my average back up to almost 18 mph. I was thinking about a bike split close to 6 hours. That was until I made the turn off 170 onto the Queen K……. THE LAVA FIELDS DID NOT DISAPPOINT! As soon as I turned down the Queen K, I was hit with a killer headwind, hills and HEAT. The rollers I cruised through on the way out had become mountains. I stayed in the small chain-ring most of the time. I was down on my areo-bars doing between 10 and 16 mph. My 18 mph average wasted away to 16.2 mph. The wind coming across the lava was well over 90 degrees. It was so hot that it melted the outside plastic shell of my thermal water bottle. The air in the thermal cavity expanded and cause a blister on the bottle. At every aid station, I took a water bottle, drank some & poured most of it on my jersey & shorts to keep myself cooled off. It worked pretty well. After I got back into town, I could feel the temperature drop 10 degrees as the breeze was coming off the ocean & not over the lava fields. I pulled back into the transition area & Anne was there to take my bike. She racked it then walked around transition with me. That was sweet. Bike split was under 7 hours at 6:55:08- 16.2 mph average.

T2:

T2 was a little longer than T1- 15:55. The walk around the pier was slow & I was in no hurry to start the run. I really did not know how I would get through a marathon…..

RUN:

I left the transition area & Annie yelled some encouragement to me. There were tons of people lining the course. I decided I should make an effort to run. I started running & it really felt OK. I even ran up the hills (at a slow pace, but still running). The first 10 miles are south down Ali’i Drive. There are lots of people and things went pretty well. It was still plenty hot but 3 or 4 people had positioned hoses free running about 7 feet off the ground. I stood under them for 30 seconds or so getting totally soaked. This helped to drop my core temperature although my shoes & socks were soaked. I made it through these first 10 miles at 11:58 pace, feeling pretty good & pleased with the pace. I was thinking I might still finish close to 14 hours. Then, we left town….. There were no longer any crowds. The lava fields were still hot. At the water stops, I would stand over the garbage cans that had the soda bottles floating in them on ice. I would take a cup and dump cup after cup of ice water over my head. On several occasions, I leaned over & stuck my entire head in the ice water. I am sure the volunteers thought I had lost my senses. I started walking more. There was a definite mental element that kept me from holding on to even a marathon shuffle. It got dark, too dark to see. There were runners coming at me that I had to avoid at the last second. I was worried about stepping in a hole. One runner ahead of me stepped off the edge of the pavement & went down. I thought I would never get to the Natural Energy Lab, but I finally did. I walked down & back. I got to talk to a few different folks who were also walking. These 11 miles were at an average pace of 14:57. Once I left the Natural Energy Lab & got back on the Queen K, the temperature had dropped some & I could see the lights of the town ahead of me. I started running again. I had been taking my GUs regularly as I had planned, drinking the coke & chicken broth. My stomach was ok & I had some energy. I was able to hold a 12:57 pace even with walking the aid stations. As I passed the 23 mile mark, there were more people & music on the course. I started feeling pretty excited about finishing. I ran the last 3 miles pretty strong. After I passed the mile 25 sign, I definitely picked it up. I was running 11:30 pace & I suspect it looked more like a run than a shuffle. Anne came up to me as I rounded the corner onto Ali’i Drive. There was a pretty thick crowd of pedestrians, but we made our way through. When I hit the chute, I broke into a full run. I zipped up my jersey for the picture & ran through the finish line. It was up a little rise & I made sure not to trip on it. I kept running after the finish & a volunteer had to catch me & tell me to stop running. My entire marathon came in at 5:51:14- 13:18 pace. But there were those 3 distinct periods that made it up.

POST RACE:

A volunteer gave me a kukui nut necklace. I asked if that was my finisher medal. They said: “No.” I was led back around to the beach area by the hotel. I got 2 pieces of pizza, 2 cartons of chocolate milk, a Subway ham sandwich. They gave me the finisher medal, a hat & a t-shirt and my morning bag. I went & collected my 2 transition bags and loaded all the stuff into my backpack. I got my bike & exited transition. It was difficult to make my way through the crowd, but it opened up as I moved down Ali’i away from the finish line. Four guys in their 20s saw me walking along & offered me a Kona beer. We toasted my finish & I continued down Ali’i Drive. I soon saw Annie & we took my bike back to Tri-Bike Transport & turned it over to them. Then, we mounted our cruiser bikes for the ride back to the condo. It was a pretty slow ride. I took a shower, shaved & got into bed.

TOTAL TIME: 14:45:29

Age Group: 96 of 116 (74%)

Men: 1412 of 1705 (83%)

Overall: 1939 of 2367 (82%)

I had thought that 90% to 95% of the field would finish ahead of me. It turns out in my age group, only 75% of the field finished ahead of me. But if you remove the 9 people who DNF’d, it works out that about 90% of the finishers DID finish ahead of me. I was a little surprised at the 10% DNF rate. It was a hard day, but I would have thought with the caliber of the field, almost all would finish.
Of the 16 iron-distance races I have done, this was the toughest AND the most fun.